Off track

Sebastien Buemi may seem as a driver who travels the world and drives around the racetracks of your dreams, but it hasn’t come easy

   

What is the earliest age you remember someone driving an F1 car? Well, for Sebastien Buemi it was just 15! Yes! He was just 15 years from his birth when he first got a taste of his dreams, that wasn’t even native yet. Then came the time when TAG Heuer sponsored to test drive a half-a-decade old Arrows at Luc in France. This was 2004 when Sebastien also carved a step up from karts to racing cars. Post that, he went on to finish third in the German Formula BMW championship, when Sebastian Vettel, was a Formula One driver in the making and romped to the title with 18 wins from 20 starts.

It didn’t stop there for Sebastien because post that, he was beaten by Nico Hulkenberg in the 2005 Formula BMW, by just five. This was the year he’d made a debut in F3 in the Spanish championship round at Valencia. However, in 2006 he won the reverse-grid race at Oschersleben where he raced in the F3 Euroseries for Mucke. From this on, Sebastien ensured that he seized the chance to make an early move into higher categories when the opportunity presented itself.

This included the time when he was a runner-up to Grosjean in the inaugural GP2 Asia championship. Then in 2009, he was promoted to Toro Rosso race team Vettel, where he began well with a points finish at Melbourne. However, after a string of car failures, he was one of the drivers to be dropped for Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne in 2012.

Thereafter, Sebastien enjoyed success in the World Endurance Championship and Formula E. He gave it all to secure the WEC title in 2014 with Toyota teammate Anthony Davidson. And then came the day when Sebastien found himself partner to Fernando Alonso’s endurance efforts, taking two Le Mans wins and the overall title with him and Kazuki Nakajima over the 2018/19 Super Season. After which, Sebastien was confirmed to drive Nissan e.Dams alongside Oliver Rowland, which has continued his Red Bull Formula One reserve role and travelling for races.